On 20 April, the Ethiopian government revealed that Ethiopia’s access to electric power grid system has now reached more than 57 percent.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity, in its latest report presented to the Ethiopian House of Peoples and Representatives, indicated that the country’s access to electric power has reached 57 percent, while the number of households that are connected through the national electric power grid system has reached to 2.8 million.

According to Tilahun Legesse, Director of the National Electricity Provision under the ministry, the number of Ethiopian households and the reported percentage level is only attributed to the electric power energy, in which the contribution of other sources of energy would further augment the country’s energy coverage.

According to the World Bank, Ethiopia has the second highest available energy generation capacity in the Sub-Saharan African region, with nearly 100 percent coming from renewable energy generation (mostly hydropower), and vast and mainly untapped solar, wind, and geothermal clean energy resources.

Bizuneh Tolcha, Director of Public Relations and Communications Directorate at the Ethiopian Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy (MoWIE), recently told Xinhua that the East African country plans to reach 17,300 MW of energy by the end of 2020, a major leap from the current 4,280 MW of energy.

According to Tolcha, the Ethiopian government expects to reach the figure with the generation of energy projects in hydro, wind, geothermal and biomass energy sectors.

The biggest project that Ethiopia envisaged to fulfil the planned 17,300 MW is the 6,450 MW hydro project, under construction on the Blue Nile river at a cost of close to 4.7 billion U.S. dollars, which is currently 65 percent completed.

While the other projects that are expected to be completed before the 2020 deadline include the 254 MW Genale Dawa I hydropower project and the 120 MW Aysha Windfarm project.

Ethiopia also expects to generate energy from the under-construction 50 MW Reppie waste-to-energy project and the 70 MW Aluto Langano geothermal energy project.

Ethiopia Premier Abiy Ahmed visited on 20 April the cities of Gondar and Bahir Dar town in the northern Amhara region. The trip was of his nationwide tour that started two weeks ago.

In Gondar, PM Abiy was received by the head of the region, Gedu Andargachew and other top officials of the state.

As part of his itinerary, he addressed residents at the Gondar stadium to listen to their concerns and send messages of unity.

He said the Ethiopian government would work to make Gonder city which is close to the Sudanese border a foreign trade hub for northwest Ethiopia. The PM also pledged to fix youth unemployment and other economic needs of the population.

Since taking over from PM Hailemariam Desalegn on April 2, PM Abiy has embarked on a national tour that has seen him visit Jijiga (Ethio-Somali region), Ambo (Oromia region) and Mekelle (Tigray region). He has shared the message of peace during all his rounds across the country.

He is tasked with undertaking political reforms that were announced in early January by the ruling Ethiopia Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).

Ethiopia’s parliament, the House of Peoples’ Representatives, has chosen a former Minister of Women’s, as its new speaker. She replaces Abadula Gemeda who has been in the role since 2010.

Muferiat Kamil belongs to the Southern Ethiopia Peoples Democratic Movement (SEPDM), one of the constituent bodies of the ruling Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).

In 2008, Muferiat Kamil, the new speaker became Minister of Women’s Affairs at the age of 32, at the time, the youngest appointee of the late Meles Zenawi.

She was born in Jimma, the largest city in south-western Ethiopia. She Graduated from Haramaya University with BSc. Degree in Agriculture in 2000.

She held different women affairs roles and from 2002 till her appointment as Public Relations Advisor to the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR) President in 2007.

She worked at the EPRDF office in Addis Ababa in April 2008, then as a junior public relations officer till her appointment as Minister of Women’s Affairs.

Both the speaker and the deputy positions will be held by women, as Shitaye Menale was appointed as her Deputy.

Ethiopia’s new Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, named his cabinet members on 19 April as well as heads of relevant federal government organizations. PM Ahmed, who presented 16 new cabinet members for approval to the Ethiopian House of People’s Representatives, also appointed nine officials as heads of various federal government offices.

Following the endorsement of Ahmed’s new 16 cabinet members by the parliament’ lower house unanimously, the premiere has now 29 cabinet members, of which 16 have already been appointed.

From the incoming 16 cabinet members, 10 have been appointed for various ministerial positions, while the remaining six were reshuffled from one ministerial position to another. Some 13 of the ministers in the 29-member cabinet have remained in their previous positions.

While presenting his recommendations to the parliament’s lower house, the Premier stressed that the major tasks for the newly appointed ministers should be the fight against corruption, strengthening accountability as well as reducing extravagant procedures.

He also indicated that one of the major reasons behind the cabinet members reshuffle was the persistent public dissatisfaction and anger that was exacerbated by mal-administration and lack of accountability.

According to the Prime minister, the selection of the newly appointed ministers was made after careful analysis and investigation of their previous work experience as well as the working performance of their previous organizations.

Among the reshuffled ministers include the former minister of defense, Siraj Fegessa, who has been appointed as minister of transport, while Motuma Mekasa, who was former minister of mine was assigned as minister of defense.

He has also appointed nine other officials for various pertinent positions within the federal government structure, which include the Federal Police Commission, the Ethiopian Information Network Security Agency and Metal and Engineering Corporation.

The Ethiopian House of People’s Representatives has also on Thursday elected the first female House speaker, Muferiat Kamil, succeeding Abadula Gemeda, who has been on the position since 2010.

The strategy ranges from prevention to palliative care and places particular emphasis on the reduction of maternal mortality.

Ghana has lost its mantle as the African economy likely to grow the quickest this year to Ethiopia, which has held the position for most of the past decade, International Monetary Fund data showed.

West Africa’s second-biggest economy should expand 6.3 percent this year, the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook released on 17 April. That’s lower than the 8.9 percent forecast in October and is also less than the raised 7.4 percent estimate for Ivory Coast and the prediction for Ethiopia, which was held at 8.5 percent.

Commodities including oil, gold and cocoa are the mainstay of Ghana’s $43 billion economy, which surged 8.5 percent last year. Its growth booms and busts have been closely linked to oil since it became a producer in 2010. Ethiopia, whose gross domestic product is almost double Ghana’s, has drawn investors including General Electric Co., Johannesburg-based Standard Bank Group and hundreds of Chinese companies.

The IMF increased its forecast for expansion in sub-Saharan Africa to 3.4 percent this year and 3.7 percent the next “as the challenging outlook in commodity exporters gradually improves,” it said.

Nigeria, the region’s most-populous nation and top crude producer, will grow 2.1 percent, matching the lender’s estimate released in the January 22 update to the outlook, while South Africa, the world’s biggest source of platinum, will expand 1.5 percent, more than the 0.9 percent prediction three months ago. The two economies account for almost half of the region’s GDP.

Forecasts from the World Bank and African Development Bank in January also showed Ghana would expand the fastest this year. The World Bank will publish an updated report on African economies today.

Ethiopia and the UN have agreed to boost their already strong peacekeeping ties, the Ethiopia Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said on Monday 16 April.

In a press statement, the ministry said the agreement was made during discussions between the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix and Deputy Minister of MoFA, Hirut Zemene.

Lacroix praised Ethiopia’s six decades old peacekeeping contribution to the world starting from the Korean war of 1950-53 to present day peacekeeping operations particularly in the Horn of Africa region in troubled nations like Somalia.

Zemene on her part called on UN and partner nations to give sufficient assistance to peacekeeping operations in which Ethiopian soldiers are participating.

Ethiopia is currently the largest peacekeeping contributing nation in Africa and is among top four peacekeeping forces contributing countries globally.

These include the UN Hybrid Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), UN Mission in Liberia (UNML), UN Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS), the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and UN Operations in Cote d’Ivoire (UNOCI).

The East African nation is also providing all the 4,400 troops deployed in the disputed Abyei region, between Sudan and South Sudan.